The global marketplace is becoming more open and more efficient at providing goods and services. Inexpensive global communication and transportation make it possible for consumers and suppliers to develop and maintain relationships without ever meeting face-to-face. In this environment, customer service is a crucial factor that separates the strong businesses from the weak and is a logical focal point for companies that seek to gain market share for both new and existing products.
For a supplier or vendor who offers telephone order placement, service, or a combination of both order placement and service, the customer service representative (CSR)--sometimes referred to more simply as "the agent"--is the interface between the customer on the outside and the business on the inside. The CSR works to keep customers happy, and serves as a crucial link between the customer and the internal operations of the company. Moreover, the CSR is a comparatively expensive portion of the overall customer service picture. It is, therefore, very important that the CSR perform efficiently. Good customer service from a CSR's perspective means being able to access the corporate information that he or she needs to provide maximum service and responsiveness to a customer inquiry.
Another part of good customer service is the ability to receive incoming calls and intelligently route them to the most qualified available agent. In many call center (CC) environments, for example, agents are typically segregated into groups, groups are assigned to handle specific call types arriving on telephone trunks, and trunks are designated for particular purposes such as support and product inquiry.
One problem associated with providing quality customer service through a CSR is that in some customer call centers, important callers are often left on hold for long periods of time waiting for the few highly-skilled agents that can best handle their calls. Additionally, important callers frequently may be connected to agents that are not trained to completely answer questions that the caller poses. The caller is then subjected to further aggravation. That is, when the caller realizes that he is not speaking to the proper CSR, he will request or be involved in a transfer to another department or CSR. As such, he may be further delayed due to being passed to a different agent group having to queue again, as well as having to repeat all pertinent call-related information that he has already explained as he tries to get the information he desires. With these complications, it is clear that call management directly affects both the customer perspective and the CSR perspective on service.
In a call center therefore, it is important that customers receive the greatest quality of service within the shortest amount of time by the most qualified agent available who has at his or her disposal the right information for the particular service call. To achieve this objective, there is often the need to transfer a service call from a first CC to a second CC where a CSR can properly respond to the customer. This necessarily includes the ability to provide the receiving CSR at the second CC all pertinent information about the caller that the first CC has pertaining to the call.
Consequently, there is a need for a method and system that permit a call center manager to effectively service calls pertaining to his or her call center and to transfer calls to other call centers in order to improve customer service and satisfaction.
There is a need for a method and system that provides a first agent with the ability to quickly route calls and related customer data to another agent at a different call center who can address the customer's specific requirements. At the same time, it is necessary that such a method and system prevent the customer from having to spend time repeating information that the customer already provided to the first agent.